Plea for replacement of birthing pool at Craigavon Area Hospital midwifery-led unit
Mid Ulster Councillor Frances Burton has renewed her call for the birthing pool to be reinstated as soon as possible in the midwifery-led unit of Craigavon Area Hospital – something which the Southern HSC Trust had promised to do.
There is another birthing pool available at the hospital, however any mother-to-be wishing to avail of it has to be transferred to the delivery suite, which is two floors down from the midwifery-led unit.
As the delivery suite is dedicated to high-risk births, it doubles up as a bereavement room at times.
The DUP representative, who has been campaigning on this issue for some time, commented: “The midwifery-led birthing pool was removed in January 2021. I am seeking a timescale for its replacement.
“I feel strongly that women should have the option, if desired, to safely birth their baby in safe and caring surroundings, with staff that are doing their best in their role as midwives.
“The midwifery-led unit should have its own pool, so that it wouldn’t have to juggle mothers at low risk, but care for them in an area where they feel safe.”
The matter was raised again at the January monthly meeting of Mid Ulster District Council, when a representative from the Southern HSC Trust was in attendance.
Director of Planning, Performance & Informatics, Elaine Wilson explained that she was not in a position to give a timescale for the replacement of the birthing pool,
“We had had to do a bit of work to try and look at how we would re-establish that in our midwifery-led unit,” she said.
“We don’t have a timeframe at the minute for getting that done, but just to reassure [councillors], it is still a priority, we do see it as something that’s important, but it’s subject to available capital funding.”
Cllr Burton pointed out that the deadline for the replacement of the pool had already been missed.
“It was me that submitted about the birthing pool. This dates back to January 2021 and it was supposed to be a priority then, and I was given a date that it would be replaced in the 2023-24 year. I think it was actually to be replaced in the 2022-23 year, and then it was postponed to 2023-24.